TRUCKER’S HEALTH

Good morning Steve and good morning to Savannah and Gino. Today we’ll talk about trucker’s health.

Several weeks ago I saw a trucker who was actually taken off of the road by his supervisors because when they pull him over at a routine rest stop they did a physical on him and found out that his blood sugar was extremely high. His keys were taken away from him and he was told that he had to come to the doctor to get checked out for diabetes. This is a very common thing that’s going on with truckers.

You may have heard a couple weeks ago that the emphasis on trucker’s health is being increased because we are finding out that the health of truckers in general is very very poor. And as a result of a truck of help being poor that means that they are more liable to be responsible for accidents and everything associated with that.

One of the things that I like to remind truckers is that you have very good risk factors for having diabetes, hypertension, and elevated cholesterol. You also are at risk by having sleep apnea. You are at risk for a lot of these things because of the kind of work that you do. Because you are sitting 8 to 12 hours a day in a truck. Your lifestyle is very poor, you don’t eat correctly, age, and of course race is a risk factor.

So the bottom line is that if you are a trucker go get yourself checked out before you are pulled over and asked the get out of your truck.

Women live longer than men

Good morning Steve. This is Dr. Thaddeus John Bell and we are going to have the health tip for wellness Wednesday.

Today I want to talk to you about “why most women live longer than most men.” You heard me correctly. Women do live longer than most men. And the reasons why are several.

First of all, women live longer because they tend to go to the doctor. Whereas men, even when they have significant symptoms, avoid going to the doctor. This is a major problem. A particularly among African American men. A famous saying for African American men when they are sick and they’re confronted about going to the doctor is: “I’ll be alright.” I can’t tell you how many times I have heard that phrase.

The second thing is that men think that they are inherently healthier than women. And that is certainly not the case. Our health issues are basically the same. Men are willing to take bigger risks than women. And by that I mean, men, even when they have very serious symptoms, will put it off and put it off. Most women if they get the slightest symptom that something may be going on, they will go to the doctor.
I’ve done a little bit of research into this. And it may be because men we have not been taught. We have not had good role models from our fathers that going to the doctor is appropriate. We may have been sent the wrong message by our fathers and our uncles and grandfathers. And the wrong message was that going to the physician was something that showed weakness. And that’s the furthest thing from the truth. It’s also been

It’s also been well-documented that men have more dangerous jobs than women which put them at risk for of something bad happening to them.

Now here’s something that you may not know. It’s on the decline but is still a major problem in the African American community and that is that men commit more suicide than women. Now I know that historically we have always said that suicide does not take place in the African American community. That is no longer the case. And while the suicide rate is decreasing, it is still a major problem among African American men. If I had time I could point out some suicides that have happened in our community here in South Carolina.

And then finally, a major reason that women live longer than men is that men tend to be less socially connected than women. And by that I mean, men have a tendency not to have a whole lot of friends that they can express their feelings to and that will take them very seriously. Women have great social connections. And through these social connections, they can get support. And often times the support is positive which will encourage them but to go to the doctor.

So it is no question that women live longer than men and you just heard a few reasons why.

I would encourage you to go to my website at www.ClosingTheGapInHealthCare.org and sign up for our newsletter. I think you will enjoy reading it.

I’m Dr. Thaddeus John bell closing the gap in health disparities for African Americans and the underserved.

Thank you, Dr. Bell! let’s throw it back to the Steve Harvey morning show on the people’s station, star 997.